No state has an inherent right to survive through conscript troops and in the long run no state ever has. Roman matrons used to say to their sons: “Come back with your shield, or on it.” Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome.
Draft Quotes
In the beginning of our government we were willing to introduce the least coercion possible on the will of the citizen. Hence a system of military duty was established too indulgent to his indolence. This (War of 1812) is the first opportunity we have had of trying it, and it has completely failed; an issue […]
A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.
People have not been horrified by war to a sufficient extent… War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige as the warrior does today.
Is a young man bound to serve his country in war? In addition to his legal duty there is perhaps also a moral duty, but it is very obscure. What is called his country is only its government and that government consists merely of professional politicians, a parasitical and anti-social class of men. They never […]
I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well-placed managed to wangle slots in Reserve and National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their […]
Of all the statist violations of individual rights in a mixed economy, the military draft is the worst. It is an abrogation of rights. It negates man’s fundamental right – the right to life – and establishes the fundamental principle of statism: that a man’s life belongs to the state, and the state may claim […]
Conscription may form a great and admirable machine, but it differs from the trained army of volunteers as a body does from a soul. But it costs a country heavy in griefs, does a volunteer army; for the flower of the country goes.
“FUCK THE DRAFT” Life magazine describes “a big poster to “end” all posters-against-the-draft,” drawn by Steve Kuromiya. The picture shows a young man watching what looks like his draft card go up in flames, “Underneath, in big white letters on a black background, it advises, simply and obscenely, what should be done to the draft.” […]
Big categories were exempted – people that were in college, people that were teaching, people that were married. It varied from time to time, but there were all kinds of exemptions. And what was left was sucked into the intake, trained for a period of months, and then went out, adding no value, no advantage, […]
